Chapter 96
While I wasn't originally a warrior, having been around many friends who trained, I developed a keen eye.
One thing I learned is that martial arts practitioners have a distinct way of walking.
And the gait of those priests was that of formally trained martial artists.
Balanced, powerful, and ready to counterattack at any mont.
I couldn't help but scream internally.
Rhom, you bastard! This is not what you said!
Are you trying to get killed?!
“Young Master. It seems they are no ordinary priests.”
Theo, who had also noticed sothing was off, whispered.
“I know.”
I instinctively scanned them up and down, but their robes were so loose it was impossible to tell if they were hiding weapons or not.
A dagger or a mace could pop out from those sleeves at any mont.
Damn it, Rhom. I shouldn't have trusted that simple mind of yours.
What was he thinking, letting them in if they were assassins impersonating the Holy See? I could have died!
At my nod, Theo carefully gripped the handle of his axe.
However, fortunately for everyone, it seed today was not that day.
My eyes t with a pale-blond female priest, and she gave a smile full of goodwill.
It was far from seductive, more like eting a close friend.
“Greetings. Duke Gryph?”
“...Yes. Greetings to you all, priests. Welco to the Black Company.”
I nodded reluctantly.
It seems they aren't assassins after all.
If they were really assassins, they would have rushed at and swung their blades the mont they entered.
Phew.
After these people leave, I'll have to overhaul the security protocols.
I'll have to call Rhom in for so ntal education too.
I whispered to Theo.
“They probably co from a monastic order that practices martial arts.”
“Does the Western Church have such places? How fascinating.”
“Yes. They do that, even though they're a religious institution.”
“Hmm, then I'd like to have a sparring match to see what their level is.”
“……”
This idiot, really.
You feel a competitive urge now?
Doesn't it occur to you what would have happened if they were assassins?
I decided to include Theo in the ntal education later and first greeted the priests.
What event was there that involved dispatching suspiciously well-trained priests?
Nothing really cos to mind...
But as the priests got closer, I felt a strange sensation.
“……”
An unsettling feeling.
Not sothing like foreboding or fear, but the feeling of sothing unpleasant approaching.
The priests had calm faces, seemingly unaware of the strange sensation, but the closer they got, the stronger my feeling of discomfort grew.
Why on earth?
The only thing that has changed is the priests?
To confirm my reasoning, I spoke to the priests.
“One mont, Fathers.”
“Yes?”
“Please stop there.”
“Yes, we will.”
The priests stopped in their tracks, and I gained certainty.
As the priests stopped walking, the feeling of discomfort neither strengthened nor weakened.
I didn't know the reason, but the cause of this strange sensation was indeed the priests.
Why on earth am I feeling this?
Could it be that my intuition ability has developed and I'm sensing danger?
No, I don't think so.
My traits haven't changed much since the subjugation of Tospol.
I didn't know the reason, but for now, it was ti to play the host.
I couldn't be lost in other thoughts with guests in front of .
“I am not feeling well. I wouldn't want to pass on any illness, so it would be best if you did not co any closer.”
“Oh dear, I will pray for your swift recovery.”
“Thank you, everyone. You must have had a hard journey coming all the way to Fasa.”
“Not at all. We ca by ship, so it was quick.”
The leader of the group, the pale-blond priest, said with a smile.
“I have heard much of your fa. I am Ceras, a servant of the Lord. I have co from Ratio to et you.”
“Ce, ras?”
“Yes, Ceras.”
I paused.
The mont I heard that na, sothing shot out from the dusty heaps of mory in my mind.
It was strategy information for that I had forgotten, exhausted from overti.
***
In , the Inquisitor is a unique class for heroes of the Western Church.
In contrast, the neighboring Eastern Church, which has a similar format, has no such class at all.
This is because while the Eastern Church held councils to explore heresy, the Western Church directly sought out and burned warlocks, black magicians, and demons to death.
In other words, the Western Church can be said to be more aggressive and action-oriented than the Eastern Church.
Given such work ethics and religious background, the difficulty of performing this job was naturally quite formidable.
It takes more than an ordinary person to deal with those rough fellows.
Therefore, the Inquisitor was a glorious position bestowed upon the elite chosen from among the nurous personnel of the Western Church.
Among them, the most infamous to users was Ceras Shrewsbury.
Pope Astro's hunting dog,
The Labyrinth Destroyer,
Inquisitor Ceras.
Why did Ceras earn such infamy?
It goes back a long ti, to when the 'Heresy' DLC was first released for .
The 'Heresy' DLC was an expansion that unlocked previously locked content such as black magicians, demonologists, and heretical religions.
The addition of a DLC also ant the addition of achievents.
Moreover, since the concept was completely different from previously released DLCs, it made countless users, including myself, cheer.
Naturally, as soon as the DLC was released, everyone bravely tried out the new classes.
And were imdiately crushed by Ceras.
─No, what is that;;
─I died on my 1st try lol
And it wasn't just once or twice.
Countless users, not giving up, kept retrying to get the achievents.
But wherever they went, they had to face Ceras and witness a BAD END.
─No, what the hell is that!!!!!
─Why does Ceras follow wherever I go?
─I was playing in Stride's line and died to Ceras;;
─t Ceras right at the start and ran, but she followed to the ends of the earth and killed ;;
She wasn't so kind of spoon-wielding murderer, nor had anyone signed up for a ho delivery service, but wherever you went, Ceras would show up like the grim reaper and kill you.
Naturally, Ceras' infamy soared, and users complained to the ga company, asking if it was a bug, but the company ruled it as normal.
The cause of the problem was only revealed after a user, unable to bear Ceras' tyranny, tore apart the data sheet.
The cause was Ceras' unique trait, 'High Intuition'.
Ceras possessed a terrifying intuition for finding heretics, so much so that it was mistaken for a bug.
And that very character has now co to visit .
This is completely outside my calculations.
I didn't get transmigrated into the ga by choice, but since I wasn't playing a heretic this ti, I never thought I would et Ceras.
Unless it was the malice of so divine being...
Just in case, it's absolutely impossible that I'm mistaking her for soone else with the sa na.
In the world of , there is only one person who uses the na Ceras.
Because the ga company deliberately did not create any characters with overlapping nas.
Above all, the trait that suddenly activated was telling that my judgnt was correct.
「Trait Activated: Descendant of a Demon
When you et the greatest nesis of your life, you feel the dark shadow in a corner of your heart that you had turned away from like an old friend.」
Damn it.
Only then did I realize that the unsettling feeling I had just felt was not simply a health issue.
The character trait I possessed had sensed the presence of an Inquisitor and sent a warning.
More than that, no, you an the demon thing wasn't just a simple modifier? There was really sothing to it?
Faced with the greatest crisis of my life, there was no composure or anything of the sort.
Just as I was about to scream without realizing it.
「Trait Activated: Heart of Iron and Blood
Do not be afraid. What you should fear is not unethical violence, but yourself.」
The trait that activated just in ti cald my physical reaction.
I quickly composed my expression.
It would be a big problem if Ceras sensed sothing suspicious and doubted !
As I was gathering my scattered thoughts, Ceras asked with a puzzled expression.
“Do you perhaps know ?”
“Ah, no. You just resembled soone I know. My apologies.”
“Ah, I see. My na is common, so you may have heard the sa na sowhere.”
“Being directly under the Holy See, aren't you of noble birth?”
“Ah, people often misunderstand that way. But I have no family na.”
“I see.”
“Indeed.”
Commoner, my ass.
The quality of your skin and hair is different.
Anyone can see you're screaming 'I'm not ordinary' with your whole body.
It was too poor a lie to believe, but this wasn't the situation to point it out.
I had to force a wide smile, as if soone was holding a knife to my side and threatening .
***
Ceras was also smiling on the outside, but inwardly, she was narrowing her eyes.
‘How does this southern country bumpkin know my na?’
Ceras didn't believe Leon's excuse.
Although he tried to gloss it over, Leon's reaction was that of soone who knew the na.
It was too unlikely to be a coincidence.
Ceras Shrewsbury was Pope Astro's closest aide and confidant, but because of her duties, her na was not known outside the Holy See.
Demons make humans flee, but Inquisitors make demons flee.
An Inquisitor is an expert on demons, not on civil affairs.
Therefore, even within the Holy See, only the high-ranking cardinals knew of Ceras' existence.
So, an ordinary person like Leon Gryph should never know and could never know the na of an Inquisitor.
‘Perhaps there's a loose-lipped person among His Holiness' political enemies. If so, does that an Leon Gryph has already established connections all the way to the Holy See? Did His Holiness send to find this out?’
Sohow, this mission had been strange from the start.
If it were a simple mission like purifying spirituality, there was no reason to specifically pick an Inquisitor from among the many confidants.
It was clear that Pope Astro had never believed the story about it being the work of a demon from the beginning.
It must have been a pretext to investigate a political enemy within the Holy See.
After all, an Inquisitor is an expert in investigation.
If Pope Astro had known, he would have said, 'No, that's not it,' but there was no one here to clear up the misunderstanding.
It is difficult for a normal person to think that their opponent is a gar from a future civilization who is skilled in ga strategy.
Such a thing was outside Ceras' imagination.
Ceras, who had made a completely different mistake from Leon, decided to find out who was behind him.
‘I don't know which cardinal he's colluding with, but I have one more reason to stick by his side. I'll dig out everything.’
Leon, standing next to her, shivered from an unknown chill.
This feeling was different from the previous discomfort; it was very eerie.
So Leon hurriedly tried to change the subject.
“So what brings you here? A donation? Or is there sothing you need to ask of ?”
“From what I hear, your rcenary company is highly skilled, but there is one thing you lack.”
“Is that so? What would that be?”
“That would be faith.”
At the sudden, out-of-place word, Leon was perplexed in a different sense.
Honestly, he had never felt any inconvenience from a lack of faith.
Leon now began to see the priests as salespeople who had co to clear out their inventory.
“Um, Father. Are you perhaps here to proselytize?”
“That is not it. But even the most ruffian of n would have worries they cannot speak of to others, or need the last rites in their final monts, would they not? If you would permit it, the clergy of our Holy See would like to accompany your company and refine their spirituality.”
It was a plausible excuse, but also a reason that was fully accepted.
While there were priests who devoted themselves to the church organization, there were also priests who went out to perform their duties.
‘Did it work?’
Ceras watched Leon's reaction.
But Leon's gaze was sowhat strange.
His eyes, which had been looking at them as if they were peddlers, had changed to look as if they were prey.
Ceras felt an inexplicable shiver and trembled.
‘What?’
Ceras was young and beautiful, and thanks to her training, she was also full of healthy beauty.
Because of this, she was often courted by n when she went out.
Of course, those n would hastily distance themselves the mont they learned Ceras' true identity, even if the mood was going well.
Thanks to such experiences, Ceras had a knack for distinguishing impure gazes.
However, the way Leon was looking at Ceras was completely different.
If one had to say sothing similar, it was the look in the Pope's eyes when he suggested they go fishing on the weekend.
It was an accurate assessnt.
Because at that mont, Leon was thinking this.
‘For such talented individuals to walk in on their own two feet. I'm really lucky.’
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